


Some adjusting left to do

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Spiderwebbed family [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Peter, Adopted Peter Parker, Adoption, Adorable Peter Parker, Cute, Fluff, Funny, M/M, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Webbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 02:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20940701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Peter's settling in with Tony and Steve, but it's awkward getting to know the world's most powerful heroes as your foster parents. It's going to take some adjusting to one another, but in the meantime at least Peter can escape to the roof...That is until his foster parents come looking for him with a few thoughts about him scaling the outside of the building.





	Some adjusting left to do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ninjazzz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjazzz/gifts).

> So this is a gift fic to the lovely Ninjazz who has been a reader of mine for quite some time now. Happy birthday! I hope you enjoy the fic.

It was awkward, really really awkward but Peter couldn’t find the right words to even begin to broach the fact that the sudden drastic changes in his life were, in fact, happening whether or not he liked it. Alright, he liked it, but Peter also admitted to himself that it was scary. He’d gone from living in a run-down house full of shouting and threats to a rather quiet tower that was only interspersed by the other occupant's chatter and that of the AI which was ever-looming overhead. 

The fact that Peter was at any given time he was being watched should have been a turn off to this new living arrangement but rather Peter found it kind of relaxing. I mean it wasn’t every day that you could just ask the all-knowing AI in the ceiling what it thought about the newest movie or ask where his foster parents were at any given time, even if they weren’t even in the tower. Friday always knew what was going on and it was a relief to know that the AI was there whenever he might need it. Not that he needed it, Peter was very self-sufficient, prided himself on it in fact which was probably why things had gotten awkward in the first place.

Peter couldn’t fault either Mr. Stark or Mr. Rogers for wanting to make sure he was alright, checking in on him and all that. Hell, aunt May has been quite the helicopter parent when it came to what Peter was up to. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to have an adult who cared about what he was doing if he was doing alright. Peter silently blamed the foster system for that but knew it wasn’t entirely to blame for the string of crappy foster families he’d been a part of. Peter knew that part of the problem had always been him, but he wasn’t about to come out and tell some strangers he was spider-man which meant there were a lot of secrets and skulking about. No one wanted to take that sort of thing on which was why Peter had been passed around to the various families in the area. 

Now, however, Peter was residing in a multi-million dollar tower with more gadgets in it than even Peter knew existed. He was also sharing said space with two of the world's most powerful men, simultaneously being parented by them as well. Peter hadn’t meant to be rude when he spent a lot of time in his room, it was just that he wasn’t all that comfortable being around them just yet. Everything was so new and Peter didn’t know how to go about talking to them, even when they had just been the adults overseeing his internship it had been awkward. He felt so below them and now, living with them Peter found it hard to even find words most mornings, hence his ever-present penchant for hiding himself away in his room. Peter knew this couldn’t keep happening, sooner or later they’d get fed up with his hiding...And Peter didn’t want them to think that anything was their fault, after all, they were taking him in. 

Sighing as he stared down at the floor from his horizontal perch on the ceiling, Peter wondered what he should do. He’d climbed to the ceiling in the hopes that he might get a clearer head, though most people might think that funny given being upside down did the opposite Peter only found peace when he was away from the world. Now, as he laid against the ceiling Peter wracked his brain for what was the best course of action. There was nothing stopping him from just walking out into the living room where he knew the two men to be at the moment. He could hear their heartbeats, their idle chit chat about what was playing out on the nightly news. It would be perfectly fine for him to just walk out there and sit down. Right? Gritting his teeth Peter shook his head, his hair swishing about on the ceiling only to fall down towards the floor that loomed beneath him. No, he couldn’t do that. Could he? It seemed so odd to just go out there, intrude upon their space, their time together. Sighing when he realized once again that he was siking himself up for failure Peter muttered to himself. 

“So stupid.” 

Allowing himself to drop from the ceiling, Peter bounced up from his heels when he landed with barely a hitch in his step. Making his way to the large window that stood beside the desk in his room, Peter stared out to the expansive city around them. It was pretty, the view was spectacular given how high up they were, and Peter could see plenty of the areas far off in the distance that he had once roamed as Spider-man. Currently, he wasn’t allowed to go out to help anyone, Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers wanted to make sure that he was 100% healed. He was, he’d been healed for over a week now. Not that they’d take Peter’s word for it, and since Dr. Cho was out till the end of the week Peter was forced to endure a week’s worth of confinement when all he wanted to do was go out swinging. To go and help people, but if there was one thing Peter was determined to do it was to listen to the other men. They’d done so much for him already and he didn’t want to disappoint them, so inside Peter would stay...Mostly.

Smirking when the idea struck him, Peter ran back to the closet and dug around through the new clothes that had been thrust upon him by Mr. Stark. Peter blushed as he remembered how the man had literally handed him a tablet and said order things. A bit of an explanation later from Mr. Rogers and Peter found the order was simply so he could have more clothing and whatnot. That had been awkward, sitting on a couch while the two superheroes talked all the while Peter ordered clothing a few feet away with money that wasn’t his. The fact that Mr. Stark had made a face when he saw what Peter ordered was only superseded by the man’s huff right before he began tapping on things. Mr. Stark ordered more than just what Peter had asked for, a lot more. Peter still felt it was a tad mean for Mr. Rogers to laugh at him when Mr. Stark showed them all that he’d ordered, clearly revealing that there was no way Peter would have gotten away with just some jeans and t-shirts. Sue him, he wasn’t used to this.

Shaking his head to rid such thoughts away, Peter fetched the warm sweatshirt that Mr. Rogers had ordered for him. This was one purchase that Peter appreciated, it was soft, warm and more importantly plain. Mr. Stark found humor in the weirdest of things, the number of t-shirts he’d been given that contained puns or other science jokes on them was staggering, even if they made Peter laugh at them. Still, having something plain was nice, comforting. Pulling the shirt over his head, Peter all but melted into the softness. Wrapping his arms around himself in a mock hug as he let the cloth soak in his own body heat. Sighing, Peter twisted about and the short trek to his desk resulted in him scooping up his backpack before he was headed for the window, just because he didn’t have the guts to go out and be with Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers didn’t mean that Peter had to stay inside his room...Or the building. 

*********

Tony couldn’t help but snort and point at the screen. “See things like that are the reason we exist.”

Steve smirked, not daring to bring up the fact that his husband was wrong. They did not, in fact, save the world because someone on the news was talking about all the good the secretary of state was doing. Tony’s deep-seated hatred of Ross wasn’t about to go anywhere, even if the accords were dealt with.

“Of all the nerve, everyone should be able to see that man’s a twat.”

Steve chuckled when his husband devolved into name-calling. “Not everyone can.”

“Then they need glasses,” Tony muttered irritably before turning to stare at his smirking husband. “Hush, you agree with me.”

“About Ross?” Tony hummed. “ Mostly, I don’t think he’s doing all that much good for us in general.”

Tony gave a pleased nod. “So you agree he’s a twat.”

Steve sighed, that wasn’t what he had meant but his husband was oftentimes like a dog with a bone. “I don’t like the man Tony, you know that.”

“I’m still not hearing the magic word,” Tony replied in a musical tone of voice.

Steve glared back at his husband’s baiting, not the least bit falling for it. “Tony.”

The man shrugged in return, this wasn’t the first time that Steve refused to play along. “I’m just saying if the man’s a twat then he’s a twat, should be pretty easy to admit it.”

Steve shook his head, sometimes he was still amazed at how Tony could go about calling people names as if he was a child. For all the genius that he was, Tony had a peculiar sense of achievement when it came to getting the upper hand on someone he’d given a horrible name too. Steve contented himself with the knowledge that Tony hadn’t directly told the man he was a twat when they last saw him, then again, the not so subtle ribbing he’d given Ross hadn’t been all that better.

“Gotta call them like I see them, babe.”

Snorting Steve retorted. “No, you don’t.”

Tony hummed as if he was actually considering his husband's rebuttal, ultimately shaking his head. “Nope, pretty sure I do.”

Knowing that they were going to get nowhere fast with that particular argument Steve chose to move things along before Tony found new and inventive insults to use against the man. “ Peter talk to you about school?” If there was one subject that could derail his husband's ranting it was their foster son.

Tony frowned. “No, why? Did something happen?”

Steve shook his head. “No, not that I know of, I was just curious if he’d even talked to you about it...I mean it was his first week back.”

Tony sighed. “Good point, but no...Kid didn’t say a word.” Looking over the back of the couch they were perched on to stare down at the hallway where Peter’s room presided, Tony mused. “Hasn’t said much of anything, to be honest.”

“He’s adjusting,” Steve commented.

“He doesn’t come out of his room.” Tony sassed as he fell back into a relaxed pose on the couch, no longer staring after the teen's bedroom. “You can’t adjust if you stay holed up in a single room.”

Tony might be right about that, but Steve wasn’t prepared to push Peter to do anything least of all spend time with them. “Tony, give him some slack. This is just as new to him as it is us, I was just curious about how his school day went. I knew you two spent some time down in the lab so I just figured-”

Tony nodded his head, yeah that made sense and all. He and Peter had worked on a few gadgets just for fun and to spend a bit of bonding time together. Although the teen had spoken with him during their lab session, it hadn’t been about anything pertaining to himself. Just the science going on around them. “Didn’t say a word.”

Steve gave a small nod and attempted to reassure his husband about their foster son’s close-lipped nature. “I’m sure he’ll start to open up Tony, it’s only been a few days.”

“A week and a half.”

Steve sighed, he should have accounted for Tony giving him the exact time table that Peter had been with them. “Right. Well, still this is a lot of change for him.”

Tony huffed as he stretched out on the couch, leaning into Steve’s side as he grumbled. “Its a lot of change for us too, thought I’d be fielding a billion questions from the kid given where he’s now presently living...Not a peep.”

Steve chuckled, so that was the crux of it. “You’re just upset that he’s not geeking out over everything.”

Tony gave him an annoyed look. “He geeks out...But he doesn’t really commit to it.”

Steve laughed, he hadn’t a clue how Peter might ‘commit’ to geeking out over whatever Tony might be showing him.

Tony swatted Steve’s thigh when the man continued to laugh at him. “Stop laughing, you’d be upset if he didn’t sit there listening to your war stories.”

Steve smiled in a patient manner. “He likes hearing about it, but it’s not comparable to how he reacts when you show him to something new in the lab. You know he’s excited, it’s pretty easy to tell.”

Tony waved a hand errantly in the air. “Well, sure...But he doesn’t really sit around to talk about it. Freaks out asks half a dozen questions and then high tails it out of there.”

“I really don’t think that’s how your interactions go.” Steve mused with a grin. “Seeing as I had to pull the pair of you out of the lab the other night.”

“Rare occurrence.”

Steve smirked. “And the night before that.”

Tony was silent for all of a minute. “You saw nothing.”

Laughing, Steve shook his head. “See, you can’t be expecting more of him when he’s already zoning into your science projects.”

“Fine.” Tony pouted. “I’d still like him to come out of his room, he’s gotta breathe sometime right?”

Steve hummed, Tony wasn’t wrong there. It had to be rather stifling cooped up in his room like that but Steve was prepared to give Peter a bit more time before intervening. “I’m sure he will...Soon.”

Tony shook his head, leaning his head onto Steve’s shoulder. “Hope so...He still refuses to tell me how he sticks to things.”

Steve chuckled. “He’ll have to tell you eventually, we are living with him.”

“Rather he does it now, it’s been killing me to know.”

Steve leaned over a hair, kissing the top of Tony’s head. “It’s not killing you, you’re just impatient.”

“Fine, I’m impatient and want to know how our shiny little spider-son works.”

Steve snorted. “Don’t call him that.”

“Think he’d prefer Underoos then?”

Steve sighed, it might take a tad longer for Peter to come to hang out with them if he got wind of Tony’s ideas for nicknames.

********

It was nearing 11 pm and with no sign of Peter, the couple was resigned to another silent night spent between them. That didn’t, however, mean that they couldn’t check in on the kid, or so Tony believed.

“Friday, did Peter do his homework?”

Steve rolled his eyes at Tony’s idea of ‘checking’ in on Peter, he refused to acknowledge that he might have done similar things when Tony wasn’t around. It was just the fact that they both knew that Peter was an all-star student so the teen wouldn’t be not doing his homework, Steve chose not to remind his husband about these things. 

“I believe so boss.”

Tony frowned, canting his head back on Steve’s shoulder to stare up at the ceiling. “Believe? How wouldn’t you know if he did it or not? You lose a camera in his room or something?” Then a thought came to Tony that had him scowling. “ He didn’t blind you with his webs did he?” Turning to Steve, Tony was quick to mutter. “He’s grounded if he starts doing stuff like that.”

Steve snickered, Peter had threatened to web a few things since he’d been there but they’d yet to come across the teen actually following through with said threats.

“No boss, all camera’s are intact.”

Sighing in relief, Tony nodded his head. “Alright fine, he’s not grounded. Care to explain how you don’t know if he did his homework or not?”

“Peter’s homework was last seen in his backpack.”

“Shocking.” Tony rolled his eyes.

Chuckling at his husband's sarcasm, Steve questioned the AI. “Alright Friday, what’s that got to do with him having completed it or not?”

“Peter took his backpack, I can no longer analyze its contents or the status of his homework.”

The pair sat there for a brief moment, their brains coalescing around the AI’s statement.

“Friday...Where is Peter’s backpack?” Tony wasn’t so sure he was liking where this was all heading. “Afterthought, where’s Peter because it sounds like you don’t know and I don’t like that you don’t know, so do you know?”

Steve stared after his husband with a frown, Tony was getting worked up if he started talking like that. Not that he particularly blamed him seeing as Peter was concerned, he didn’t have time to over-analyze things as Friday chimed in. 

“Peter’s backpack is no longer inside the tower, last visual’s were taken at 9:10 pm as Peter left via his bedroom window.”

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Tony was up and on his feet in a heartbeat, running the short way to the teen's bedroom despite already knowing what was most likely awaiting him. Steve was hot on his tail, all the while calling out to Friday.

“Friday why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was not given instructions on what to do if Peter were to leave via his bedroom window.”

Steve huffed, of course, they hadn’t thought to add anything like that, what kind of teenager climbed out their window when they were over 30 stories up? A kid that could climb, go figure. Steve came to stand behind Tony, the pair staring blankly into the vacant room.

“Where is he Friday?”

“Last visual’s indicated Peter was climbing the building.”

“The roof?” Steve questioned even as he glanced up at the ceiling if he could somehow see the teen if he was still up there. 

“His whereabouts are unknown.”

“He’s grounded.” Tony grit out as he twisted sharply and headed back the way they came.

“Grou-Where are you going?” Steve ran after his husband even as Tony made his way towards the elevator in the tower. Steve had to jog to catch up, Tony was on the warpath. Once inside, Steve got his answer.

“The roof.”

“You think he’s still there?” Steve mused. “Why stick around?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know, all I know is that he’s grounded whenever we find him.”

Steve sighed, not that he didn’t agree with his husband and all given the fright that Peter had given them, but he also wanted to give the teen a chance to explain himself. “I’m sure he had a good reason.” Tony stared him down. “Maybe.” He relented.

Nodding Tony waited for the elevator to stop at the top floor of the tower, the only access to the roof was a single layer of subsystems, at the far end of a series of computer servers was a single staircase up to the roof access. Ignoring the hum of all the servers and the chill in the room because of them, Tony stalked his way down the hallway.

Steve kept pace before pulling ahead of Tony when they reached the staircase, climbing the staircase first so as to waylay his upset husband, as well as lift the heavy access door for him. The heavy metal was lifted up and away as Steve climbed up, helping Tony up the final stairs the couple looked about. The roof was all but dark, desolate in comparison to the bright lights of the city below. The gravel that crunched beneath their feet gave an echo to their movements, not deterred by the loudness of their own footsteps the couple continued on their search. Looking around the various vents and pipes that shrouded sections of the roof from view. The two drifted apart to scour the roof of the tower, to cover more ground and to hopefully prevent the teen from making a break for it. 

Steve froze when his latest search area yielded results, smirking Steve didn’t call out for Tony, leaving him behind to continue his own search on another part of the roof. Steve was prepared to have a civil conversation with the teen who was presently reclined in what could only be described as a hammock, the only big surprise was that they didn’t own one and that Peter had seemingly made the thing out of his own webs. Peter was reclined in the web hammock, textbook balanced on a folded knee as he read intently all the while wearing the red hoodie that he’d bought the kid. Taking another step forward, Steve held fast as he spoke.

“You know we own a couch right?”

Peter jumped, startled from the intense scrutiny of his textbook the teen twisted sharply only to crash down to the gravel below as his weight overturned his hammock. Groaning as he picked himself up onto his elbows, Peter stared out in surprise to the figure who was smiling down at him. “Umm...”

Steve shook his head deeply amused by the teen’s reaction to being caught. “You decided to do your homework on the roof?”

Peter blushed even as he managed to get back to his feet, dusting himself off as a means to avoid the man’s gaze. Peter nodded, twisting to the side to stare at his hammock which in his graceless roll had twisted about itself into a coil of webbing that would no longer hold anything other than his currently ensnared textbook. 

“And you made a hammock.”

Peter turned back towards Mr. Rogers with a small grimace on his face. “Maybe.”

Steve chuckled at the teen’s attempt to dismiss his own creation. “I saw you laying in it, how does that even work?”

Peter shrugged. It just did, granted it had taken a lot of trial and error to figure out what all he could do with his webs, but that wasn’t really the issue right now. The real issue was that he’d been found, and if that wasn’t bad enough Mr. Stark appeared from around some piping.

“What in the-”

Steve smiled at Tony, watching as his husband came to stand beside him staring confused at the teen and the mass of webbing that looked nothing like the hammock it had once been. “He made a hammock.”

Tony twisted to give him a befuddled expression. “What?”

Steve nodded. “He made a hammock out of webs.”

Tony turned to stare at Peter, waiting for the teen to say something only to find that the teen was intent on standing there awkwardly. “You had to do this on the roof?”

Peter shrugged.

Steve chuckled before chiming in. “I told him we have a couch.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah and about a dozen other pieces of furniture that don’t rely on being constructed out of webbing on the roof.” Gazing past the teen towards the mass of webbing, the genius questioned. “How does that even work?”

“I asked the same thing.” Steve gave Peter and encouraging smile.

Sighing, Peter muttered. “It’s not hard.”

Tony snorted, pointing a finger to the teen. “You can climb up buildings, you don’t get to dictate what’s hard in this scenario.”

Peter huffed. “Well, it’s not.”

“How do you do it?”

Peter looked back at the ruined hammock, then back to his foster parents. They hadn’t really had in-depth conversations with each other, it’d been too awkward really. But now, with talking about Spider-man things or at least things that Peter felt were more than just himself, it was easier. “I can show you...Be easier than just explaining it.”

Tony nodded, pleased to have his curiosity saited but made a quick amendment towards the plan of the teen showing off. “How about we do this inside.” He rubbed his arms while speaking, it was cold up here on the roof. Thankfully it appeared that Peter had bundled up beforehand, seeing the teen wearing the sweatshirt Steve had bought him made Tony smile. Maybe the kid was adjusting a bit better than he’d given him credit for. 

“Are you sure?” Peter waved a hand towards the mess of tangled webs. “It’s kinda messy.”

“Disloves doesn’t it?”

Okay, Mr. Stark had a point. “Okay.”

“Good, let’s get inside before I turn into a popsicle like you did.” Tony patted Steve’s chest before twisting about to head back towards the access door.

Steve glowered after his husband for that remark but smiled when Peter snickered at it. “Come on, get your things.”

Peter gathered up his textbook via a bit of force exerted on the tangle of webs, once it was free of the majority of webbing Peter shoved it and his notebook back into his backpack. Slinging it over his arm the teen smiled back at Mr. Rogers and had the startling realization that Mr. Stark was leaving them behind and the super soldier in front of him thought Peter would follow like any other sane individual. That’s why Peter chose to do something unpredictable, smiling in an impish way Peter waved at the man. “Meet you there.”

Steve gasped when Peter ran full boar and leaped off the side of the building, Steve followed staring down the length of the tower to see Peter swing himself into a window, most likely his own bedroom. Taking a deep breathe Steve turned and headed for the access door, shaking his head when Tony who had come to stand before the open roof access door asked him “What took you so long? Where’s Peter?”

“He...Took a shortcut.”

“Shortcut? Wha-Are you serious?” Tony made to go and see for himself that the teen had climbed back down the building only to have Steve snatch up his arm and drag him back through the server room. 

“Come on, he’s probably already waiting for us.”

Tony huffed, annoyed that he’d missed the kid's little show. “Did he seriously just climb down the building?”

Steve shook his head. “Jumped.”

Tony froze the second they were inside the elevator, twisting his head towards Steve. “He jumped? Like jumped off the roof jumped?”

Steve nodded. “Swung himself into his bedroom.”

Tony laughed in a surprised fashion. “Well, that’s one way to get back into the house.”

Steve glowered at his husband. “He could have hurt himself.”

Tony rolled his eyes in a good-natured way. “Hate to break your heart babe, but that kid’s tougher than he looks...I mean he did crash down with a plane.”

Steve sighed, wiping a hand down his face. “Don’t remind me.”

Tony nudged his shoulder. “Hey, it’s not so bad...Wasn’t even more than ten floors right? That’s a lot better than the plane, a piece of cake for him.” Tony did his best to hide his own inhibitions about the teen's acrobatics, though it was thoroughly amusing to watch his husband freak out about what Peter got up to.

“Tony.” The irritated grumble that left Steve had Tony chuckling just as the elevator opened.

Taking Steve’s hand the genius pulled his husband along down the short hallway into the living room only for them both to freeze. They had not anticipated the sight that greeted them. Peter smiled, waved and then went back to reading. In the time they’d traversed the sever room, taken the elevator and walked the short distance to the living room Peter had managed to create another hammock and set up shop. The large hammock was strewn between the large beams adjacent from the couch in the living room, the hammock seated before the large bay window and thus giving the teen a startling view of the city.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Tony left Steve’s side walking straight up to the teen who set his book aside in the webs. “Y-You did this?” 

Peter smiled. “Well yeah...Who’d you think did it?”

“Don’t get smart.” Despite chastising the teen Tony was laughing as he took in the sight the webbed hammock made. “This is amazing kid.”

“Thanks.” Peter blushed, embarrassed by his mentor's praise.

“Peter.” Steve waited until he had the teen's attention. “Please don’t dive off the roof.” Then because he realized how that sounded, muttered to himself. “I really just said that.”

The teen grinned at the flummoxed man. “Sorry, Mr. Rogers.”

Tony laughed at the insincerity of the teen’s voice, his husband had it coming being a stick in the mud. “Gotta say, kid, pretty impressive...How much weight could this hold?” Tony reached out to touch it only for Peter to wave his hands stilling him as Peter sat up in the hammock. “What?”

Peter blushed. “It’s still sticky Mr. Stark...I mean, you’d get stuck.”

Tony blinked a few times in quick succession. “It’s still sticky? Then how are you-”

“I’m Spider-man.” Peter grinned before quickly explaining when that got him a frown. “I stick to things...But not this.” Peter rolled out of the hammock with ease showing the man how he could take the edge of the hammock up in his hand and shove it back and forth creating a swaying motion of the hammock. Looking back at the two men watching intently, Peter explained. “You two would get stuck...Like in the lab.” Peter smiled at Mr. Rogers.

“Huh...But you’re immune.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, it’s just like laying on a blanket.”

Tony hummed as he knelt down and peered up at the object before standing and gazing curiously at its construction.

“It won’t stay there Mr. Stark, it’ll dissolve in an hour or two.” Then because it ultimately would, Peter added. “But it shouldn’t make a large mess-”

Tony waved a hand at the kid. “Trust me, this is not the strangest thing I’ve had decompose in my house.”

Peter grimaced at that notion, earning a laugh from Steve who patted the boy's shoulder. “There’s a reason there’s a separate fridge down in the lab labeled don’t eat.”

Peter nodded, he’d seen that, of course, but hadn’t really questioned why it existed. “Well, um...Right. It’ll just dissolve, might leave a bit of a sticky spot but nothing like it is now.”

Tony nodded along with what Peter had to say as he stood back up and gave the boy an inquisitive look. “How strong would you say this is? I mean if you were to use it against something?”

Peter stared back at Mr. Stark in surprise by the question and then uttered. “Well, you didn’t tear it so easily in your suit.”

Tony frowned at the teen even as Steve laughed at his husband’s expense. “Cute. What else?”

Peter shrugged. “It kept the plane turbines from falling apart...When I was in one anyway.”

The two men stood there in utter silence, it took only a moment for Peter to realize that his ability to answer Mr. Stark's question didn’t mean that he should. Admitting you’d been inside a plane’s turbine wasn’t a great way to make them feel warm and fuzzy.

“I’m sorry, you said what now?”

Peter swallowed. “Umm...So I can fling a car with it?”

Tony scowled at the teen's attempts to avoid what he’d just clearly said. “Friday, rewind the tape.”

Peter paled a moment when Friday started playing back what he’d just said, the silence that filled the room once the playback had finished was as solid as the web hammock behind Mr. Stark. “I plead the fifth.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah, real cute underoos but that ain’t going to fly.”

Peter groaned. “It’s not like I planned on doing that.”

Tony pointed a sharp finger at the teen. “You didn’t plan any of that.”

“Exactly!” Peter smiled when the man made his point for him. “So you can’t be-”

“ENH!”

Peter grimaced at the tell-tale buzzer noise Mr. Stark made whenever he stoutly disagreed with something someone was saying. Peter had come to know the noise well over the last week and a half. 

Steve shook his head as he watched his husband call Peter out for his past actions, they both knew that Peter wasn’t to blame for what happened with the plane but finding out new bits and pieces was startling. “Peter I thought you told us everything that happened?”

Peter glanced over towards Mr. Rogers. “Mr. Stark looked like he was having a stroke.”

“Hey!”

Steve smirked at his husband’s outrage. “I’m sure he did, but we still wanted to know what all happened.”

Peter gave a careless shrug. “I don’t see why it’s all done with and I didn’t die.”

Tony snorted. “Yes, because that’s the benchmark here.” Shaking his head Tony pointed at the kid's hammock. “Get in there and finish your homework.”

Peter blinked in surprise to the ‘order’ his foster parent was giving him having expected another long lecture about taking on evil henchmen. “Seriously?”

Tony gave a sterner look that saw Peter happily hopping back into the hammock, the teen watched each of the men a moment longer before reaching out for his textbook.

“We’re talking about roof privileges when you’re done,” Tony grumbled as he made his way over to the couch. Steve was snickering even as he fell in line beside his husband, the couple sitting down on the couch with the teen well in sight as his hammock was hung on the opposite side of the room towards the large bay window.

Peter watched the two men get seated once more before pulling his textbook over his face, a wise move since he uttered. “I can just climb out of the window.”

“Not if you don’t have a window.” Tony threw back at the hiding teen.

Steve shook his head, he knew that Tony wouldn’t go to all the trouble of replacing the kid's window but it was a funny thought all the same. Seeing as his threat had the desired result of Peter returning to his homework there was nothing more to be said. Rather, Steve chose to question. “Do you want a real one?”

Peter looked up cautiously over the rim of his book. “What?”

“A hammock? We could just get one and hang it there.” The supersoldier waved his hand to the space that Peter’s current hammock was occupying. If that was what it took to have the teen hanging out with them more than it would be well worth it.

Peter looked around, considered it for only a brief moment and then shook his head.

“You’re sure?” Steve questioned with a frown. “It’s no trouble and besides we’d kinda like you to stay out here every now and again.”

Peter blushed at the simple request, he knew that there was no way they hadn’t noticed his hiding himself away. Hearing that the men wanted him to hang out with them still felt wrong on some level, as if he was intruding, but it was nice to hear it at the same time. “I prefer these ones, sir.”

Tony snorted at the teen's penchant for being respectful. “Don’t call him sir, he’s liable to think he outranks us or something...All that army jargon is as sticky as those webs of yours.”

Steve rolled his eyes but replied simply to the teen. “Well, I don’t think you’ll have a problem remaking that one then.”

Peter shook his head. “It’s easy.”

“Good. Then you are hereby ordered to be in our presence three days out of the week.” Tony called out interjecting the conversation between his husband and foster son. “Because although I know your room has Oxygen I was beginning to doubt if you were aware that the outside world existed.”

Peter let out a small huff at that. “I know the world exists Mr. Stark.”

“Good, glad to hear it. Three days Underoos.”

Sighing, Peter nodded his head. “Fine...But I’m making hammocks.” He petulantly stated as if it had some kind of bearing on the argument.

Tony rolled his eyes, allowing Steve to retort. “That’s fine Peter.”

Peter let his gaze fall back to his textbook, pulling it once more in front of his face in the ruse that he was returning to his studies when in reality it was hiding the small smile he wore. It was nice to feel wanted.

*********

“That doesn’t even remotely look comfortable.”

Peter blinked a few times, canting his head back to stare at Mr. Stark. “Huh?”

Steve smirked from where he sat on the far end of the couch, Peter had been doing his homework for the last few hours per their agreement that he spend time out in the living room. And per that agreement, the teen was in a hammock made entirely of his webs, he was also upside down.

“You’re upside down.”

“Yeah?”

“Doesn’t that hurt your head?” Tony grimaced as he watched the teen adjust how he was laying on the webbing. The teen’s back was literally pressed against the webbing while his head canted damn near to the floor. Peter’s legs were cross-legged in the bow of the hammock despite it being nearly vertical.

“No.” Peter shook his head, his hair flopping about in the pull of gravity. “I don’t get the whole head rush thing anymore. I can stay upside down for hours.”

“Seriously?” Tony gave the boy a curious but perceptive look as he leaned forward. “You have no blurry vision, no headache-”

Peter shook his head, interjecting before Mr. Stark could continue his questioning. “It’s just like sitting upright Mr. Stark...It’s kinda nice actually.”

Tony hummed as he laid back into the couch, the Starkpad that he’d been working on carelessly set aside due to his curiosity in Peter’s abilities.

“Finish your homework.” Steve smiled at the teen who was watching Tony with just as much curiosity as his husband had for the teen.

Peter gave a nod and returned to his math homework, ignorant to the look Steve was giving Tony. The genius in question glared at his husband’s smirking look. It wasn’t his fault that their foster son was an oddity, nor that he was curious about it. Before Tony could have any hope of making a snide comment towards Steve he was sidetracked by a familiar ringtone. The two heroes watched as Peter contorted himself even further to reach his phone with had been in his pocket. Once he’d managed to fish it out the teen answered the call all while hanging upside down.

“What’s up Ned?” The teen frowned a moment and then muttered. “Ned, that report’s not due until the end of the term...Yeah?” Peter rolled his eyes even as the two men watching smirked. “No...Who is that? Ned. Ned. Dude, that’s not going to work.” Peter surprised them by flipping himself out of the hammock, landing on his knees before standing all without breaking his flow of speech. Not a lapse in his breathing or anything as he walked back towards his bedroom. “Yeah, no I still have it I just don’t see how-Okay...”

Tony smirked at Steve when the man turned back around from watching Peter disappear down the hallway. “What?”

Tony shook his head. “I knew having him around was going to be a big adjustment and all, I mean he’s a superhero teenager.”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah?”

“Watching him contort himself upside down and having full-on phone conversations without even a notion of what he’s doing...Imagine what he could do when he’s focused.”

Steve smiled. “Guess we’ll just have to find out.”

The man hummed in reply, Peter was smart...His level of smart and he couldn’t wait to see how far the kid would go now that he was there with them. Tony snickered right along with his husband when they heard Peter yell down the hallway to them.

“Ned’s having a mental breakdown...I’m gonna go save him!”

“Alright, don’t stay out late,” Tony shouted back with a smirk.

“I won't!”

A minute elapsed before either Tony or Steve realized that Peter hadn’t come dashing down the hallway to leave the tower. Sighing Tony looked to his husband. “Your turn.”

Nodding, Steve questioned. “Friday did Peter go out the window again?”

“Yes, Captain Rogers.”

The two heroes smirked to each other before Tony informed her. “Send him a text, let him know we talked about this. No diving out of windows, he has to at least pretend he’s normal...At least where the public could see him.”

“Message has been sent.”

Nodding Tony shook his head as he glanced across the room to the hammock that the teen had left behind. The teen’s books were still discarded inside the chaos of the webbing, neither he or Steve were going to dare and clean that up. They’d both found out the hard way that Peter wasn’t messing around when he said they’d get stuck. 

“Peter has sent a reply.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“I’m wearing a mask, no one’s going to see anything. Not to mention I move too fast for anything like facial recognition software to catch.”

Steve shook his head as Peter not only refuted their fears of someone seeing him but also admitted to something they’d talked about earlier. “Remind him Friday, no swinging and texting.”

“Message has been sent.”

Tony chuckled at the put-out tone his husband's voice held. “ I think this is going to take a bit more fine-tuning, but at least he’s adjusting.”

Steve shook his head. “And to think we were worried.” Steve smiled at his chuckling husband.

“Peter has sent a message...It gets awkward when I stand on top of buildings just to text people. Like right now, I’m in the middle of town and just standing here texting on some random building...This is how people notice you. Did you kn-”

The two heroes gave each other amused looks as Friday continued to read off the boy’s reply that he was apparently typing on some random roof in town so as to abide by their rules. 

“Hey at least he’s listening, far better teenager than most...Minus the whole climbing up buildings thing.” Tony announced chipperly. “ Or climbing out of windows, could use some work on that too since it's becoming a habit for him to ditch out that window. I don’t think most parents have to worry about that kind of sneaking out.”

“Most parents don’t have to worry about their kid swinging by their hands hundreds of feet above the city either.” Steve teased. “But then again, Peter’s not normal, he’s Spider-man.”

Tony laughed at his husband's acknowledgement to their unique situation with Peter and his abilities. “So really we’re excelling at this parenting thing?”

Steve smirked. “Sure.”

“I knew we’d be good at this.” Tony crowed, blatantly ignoring his husband's laughter. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
